Welcome to Midnight Mania!
No UFC fighter wants to pull out of a fight. Training camps are expensive and grueling, significantly taxing months endured in the hopes of a big win and ideally big paycheck. Usually, fighters are safer the week of events, as training tapers down and the weight cut becomes the focus.
Unfortunately, something went wrong at the last minute for Kelvin Gastelum, who was scheduled to headline UFC Vegas 67 this Saturday (Jan. 14, 2023) opposite Nassourdine Imavov. He still hasn’t gone into detail on what happened, but Gastelum did release a statement on Twitter.
“I’m extremely disappointed to say the least,” he wrote. “This not how I wanted to start 2023. I worked my ass off & battled through a lot of adversary and was ready to put on a hell of a show this weekend. I apologize to Imavov, his camp as well as ufc and all the fans.”
In addition, Gastelum posted a video of himself undergoing some kind of oral surgery. In his own words, Gastelum described his procedure as “sewing my teeth back on.” Clearly, recently reattached teeth are not exactly fight worthy.
Again, there’s no details at to what happened released yet. In my experience, however, it looks like Gastelum ducked his face into a knee, which is the most common way for fighters to loose several front teeth at once. That collision can easily happen while moving around lightly rather than hard sparring, which is common during fight week.
Whatever the case, here’s wishing Gastelum a quick recovery. He’ll be replaced this weekend by Sean Strickland, who will headline his second consecutive main event after ending 2022 with a split-decision loss to Jared Cannonier.
Insomnia
Jiri Prochazka isn’t letting an awful shoulder injury keep him from getting some work in!
Fedor Emelianenko still ranks highly as one of the most dynamic clinch wrestlers in MMA history.
Rafael Fiziev’s dozen of callouts of Justin Gaethje may have finally landed him “The Highlight” in March.
Бой Джастина Гейджи (#3 в рейтинге I UFC 6-4) и Рафаэля Физиева (#6 в рейтинге I UFC 6-1) находится в разработке на март. Об этом Рафаэль рассказал в интервью YouTube-каналу Captain Hardcore. pic.twitter.com/cVrLWBZqsN
— Вестник ММА (@VestnikMMA) January 8, 2023
An update from the regional MMA scene:
It would appear that Mike Jackson’s UFC Apex scuffle with Jake Shields officially ended his UFC career. What a strange journey!
❌ Fighter removed: Mike Jackson
— UFC Roster Watch (@UFCRosterWatch) January 10, 2023
Another ugly detail from the Phil Baroni case:
UPDATE After Phil Baroni’s hearing today Nayarit’s General Prosecutors office representative tells me:
Examinations show at least 37 injuries on the victims body. Judge called for period of up-to six months finish the investigations and start the trial for aggravated femicide.
— Carlos Contreras Legaspi (@CCLegaspi) January 10, 2023
I don’t see why UFC would allow Terrance McKinney to chin Paddy Pimblett, but I would certainly watch it happen.
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Using kicks to hide stance switches can be such an effective and tricky tactic.
CFFC rarely fails to produce great highlights.
This left hook to the liver dropped him like a sack of potatoes.
Random Land
Look at the ears on this lad.
Midnight Music: I would recommend Viagra Boys’ 2022 album Cave World to anyone who digs noisy rock music.
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.